BBC One chief under new pressure

BBC One Controller Jay Hunt's first husband was paid by the Corporation for media consultancy work, it emerged yesterday, amid the escalating row over alleged conflicts of interest.

Ian Johnston

9:30AM BST 09 Aug 2009

Gary Rogers, who previously edited BBC One's Six O'Clock News, set up GR Media in 2006, and it won a contract with the Corporation just months later.

MPs said the BBC's trustees should be "more proactive" in examining the awarding of contracts to those close to people in senior positions in the BBC to ensure everything was done correctly.

Last week it emerged that Miss Hunt is company secretary of BrightsparkTV, which is owned by her current husband, Ian Blandford, who she married in 2005, and which has a contract to coach BBC staff.

The contract awarded to GR Media in 2006 involved setting up an Arabic service for the BBC. Miss Hunt was in charge of BBC One and Two's daytime broadcasting at that time.

Philip Davies, a Conservative MP and a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: "The BBC trustees should be more proactive in looking into how acceptable this behaviour is.

"If everything is above board, you would think the trustees would want to make that clear. Instead they seem to be sweeping it all under the carpet."

Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders, also a member of the committee, said: "Even the lowliest parish councillor has to declare such relationships. There ought to be a system at the BBC where matters are out in the open."

A spokesman for the BBC confirmed GR Media had carried out work for the BBC World Service.

"GR Media worked on the project which set up the BBC Arabic Service," he said. "Given this was three years ago, we can't easily access further information on this. Jay Hunt was not involved in any way."